So many aspects of American culture have an underlying sense of women=weakness.
Even from a young age boys are ridiculed if they canât throw hard enough, show the emotion called sadness in the form of our bodies natural self defense (tears), as being âlike a girl.â
Even all the main cereal box characters are male. Are they afraid boys wouldnât eat it? Girls do. Same with animated films with female leads. Girls watch both male and female leads in animated films and cartoons. Even comics and animated shows were catered more to boys because they âwatch shows more and read comics moreâ when in reality they donât. But if all the comic books show women in scantily clad outfits in a position of weakness and all the cartoons have super buff guys fighting villains, you wonât have as many girls interested.
However, in the early years is comic book strips both girls and boys read almost 50/50, and in the 1960âs women were the predominant readers. Why? Because comics catered to them.
As boys grow up they are told they canât like or do something to be considered âa man.â Aspects of culture that have been around and respected (and even banned women) for literally centuries like ballet or theater are considered âwomenâs things.â  Or going to see a female led film is a âladyâs filmâ and a man is also thought of by other men as being âa pussyâ or âgayâ if he sees it. Meanwhile women can see both guy and girl films and not be ridiculed at all. Even if a guy listens to one of the highest grossing and award-winning singers like BeyoncĂ© or Taylor Swift theyâll get teased. Or if they watch a Serena Williams match (one of the greatest athletes of all time and certainly the most celebrated Tennis player) they may get the same treatment.
As guys get older they are surrounded by a culture that sexualizes women constantly. The idea of âgetting laidâ is put on such a high pedestal that finding a girl just to âfuckâ is the equivalent of treating a human being as an object you can sexual do things to and then leave them the next day without any repercussions. And when a guy is with his buddies, something personal between two people is seen as a baseball game. âHow far did you get?â Or guys talking about a girlâs ass they saw. Meanwhile you donât see women talk in that way anywhere near the same amount as guys. A guy one girl just met is talked about in terms of who he is (as well as his looks)In popular media both men and women are sexualized but while men send as physically super strong that also conveys power while women seen as super thin are seen as objects saying âfuck me.â
Even âguy filmsâ rarely show a female  character whoâs only reason for being there is to be the girlfriend, sexy eye candy, or death that puts there man on a journey of revenge. Meanwhile in âchick flicksâ the man are handsome but most of the time wear clothes like normal people and actually have personality.
Even popular lingo like âthatâs what she said,â âyo mama,â and âyour momâ are used. While âthatâs what he saidâ could equally work on multiple locations, and âyo daddyâ and âyour dad.â But of course if one guy is trying to piss off/tease another guy he mentions something along the lines of sleeping with thatâs guys mom. Once again, women mentioned for sole reason as mentioning âsex,â and yet itâs with a parent so...no.
Overall I know for a fact there are many men respectful toward women both in person and when there are no women around. But there is an underlying culture that constantly brings a man down by liking a woman for anything but her body.
So what should change? First, donât bring boys, teenagers, and men down for liking things women like. (We let women like âguyâ things so why not men?) Also, donât teach boys at a young age to connect being like a âgirlâ or a âfemaleâ as weak. We (women) have babies come out of small holes after dealing with all kinds of pain for 9 months, on top of monthly pains, and men who have abused and taken all rights away throughout recorded history and present day remarks and double standards and sexism in many fields, and we are STILL going STRONG! LIKE A BOSS!!! BAM!!